Protesters marched through central Hong Kong on Sunday in one of the city’s major annual pro-democracy rallies as organisers said the event was coming under unprecedented pressure from authorities.

Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

Beijing has become increasingly intolerant of signs of dissent in semi-autonomous Hong Kong since massive pro-democracy rallies in 2014 brought parts of the city to a standstill and the subsequent emergence of activists demanding independence from China.

Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

Hong Kong has rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of expression, but there are concerns those liberties are now under threat from a repressive Beijing and a loyalist local government.

Ahead of this year’s march — which takes place on the anniversary of the city’s return to China by colonial power Britain in 1997 — police rejected a number of starting points suggested by organisers.

Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

In the past, protesters have gathered on the main football pitches inside Hong Kong’s Victoria Park.

Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

But since last year, when China’s President Xi Jinping paid a visit to mark 20 years since the handover, that area has been given over to a pro-Beijing rally.

Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

“This year is a turning point in which (authorities) have used different ways to mobilise their power to suppress the rally,” Sammy Ip, from the Civil Human Rights Front which organises the march, told AFP.

Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

Police warned residents they could be arrested for unlawful assembly if they joined the protest along the route, which Ip described as a way to “intimidate citizens”.

Other rights groups also joined the march, including LGBT campaigners as well as protesters calling for better living conditions and equality in the densely packed city, which has an ever-widening wealth gap.

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